It Comes Full Circle
by caliclair
Summary: Kmart was falling...falling hard for one Jill Valentine...problem was, come to find out Jill was hiding something. Thinking school was hard, Kmart is in for a surprise of her life when she graduates.
1. Excuse me, Ms?

This couldn't get any more interesting. My days at school are over as well as my job, my vacations, my friends and family. Now all I am is a survivor, not a student, not an employee, a survivor….for now. Let me just take you back to when all this shit started, when I was on my way to school and met three people, who I didn't know would change my life forever in the coming months.

As the light turned red, a teal 2008 Mini Cooper Hybrid came to an abrupt halt. Small elegant fingers found themselves nervously tapping away at the steering wheel. A young blonde, around the age of 18, was running late to school as usual. _'God Sam, why do you have to be so stupid, sometimes I wonder why mom ever married you.' _Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud engine noise that was suddenly by her side of the car. She looked over to see two women in a dark 2007 C6Z06 C6 Red Corvette. The one in the passenger's seat had long dark red hair and a worn out brown baseball cap shielding her eyes from the sun. The driver seemed to have mid-length dark blonde hair. _'God, if looks could kill, I'd already be dead.' _The blonde teen thought, while a faint blush quickly painted her face. _'This is not the time to think about how hot they are right now; you're still late for school.' _The young blonde sighed and turned her head back to the road, to hear someone shout, "Hey!" The teen turned her head back to the women. The redhead seemed to be making the motion with her hand to roll down her window. The blonde rolled her window down to feel the cool breeze hit her face.

"Umm…..hi?" says the teen.

"Hey, I'm Claire and this here's Alice," Claire says, while pointing to the driver. "We were wondering if you wanted to, well, race?" Claire finishes, while sending a smirk over to the young teen.

"Well, I'm actually kind of late for school," the young blonde replied.

"Come on, think about it, you'll make it to school faster at least," Claire laughed.

"Ok…sure," the teen replied uncertainly. _'Why not? I'm already late, why not have some fun while I'm at it, at least it'll be more worth it going to detention later.' _The blonde teen was once again interrupted, but this time by someone else.

"Hey," the young teen barely heard the rough, soft voice from the corvette. She lifted her head from where she was watching her hand fidget with her bracelet. She notices that it was the women with the dark blonde hair. Alice. "What's your name, kid?" Alice asks.

"My name's Dahlia," Dahlia shyly replies.

"That's a beautiful name," Alice says. "Ready to race?"

"Yeah," Dahlia answers. She turns back to the light. Both of her hands were back on the steering wheel, tapping away, waiting for the light to turn green. When Dahlia counted to 2 in her mind, the light turned green and the next thing she heard was tires spinning out and smelt burnt rubber. _'Well, looks like I know who won.'_ Dahlia thought. She shook her head and continued on her way to school, not even bothering to try to catch up with the two beautiful women.

As Dahlia entered her first class, everyone stared at her, but quickly looked back to the front. _'They look anxious, wonder why?' _When Dahlia headed towards the teacher's desk, she realizes something is different._ 'Where's the smell of 'Old Spice' from Mr. Owens?' _She thought. As she looked up, she didn't seen an old man who was balding and wearing a brown striped sweater with khaki pants, but instead she saw a young woman in her twenties. She had dark brown hair that barely reached her shoulders and her eyes were so green, like you were going to get lost in a vast jungle. She was wearing a plain blue v neck shirt, with a black midriff coat over it and black jeans that clung to her every curve. _'Well, my clothes can't beat that,' _Dahlia thought, as she looked down herself at her 'Paramore' t-shirt and ripped faded blue jeans that covered up her black convers.

"Uh, hi I'm Dahlia," Dahlia says, while stilling thinking what's going on.

"Ah, yes Dahlia, seems like you're late, but since it's my first day, I'll let you off easy by letting you only have a 10 minute detention in my class today, after school," the dark haired beauty said. "I'm Ms. Valentine and I'm going to be your new teacher for the rest of the year, so please take your seat Dahlia.

"Yes, ma'am," replies Dahlia. As the day went by the final bell rang and all the students quickly left. Dahlia slowly walked to Ms. Valentine's class to find that the room was empty. _'Might as well go sit down.' _As Dahlia sat down in her seat, Ms. Valentine walked in.

"Dahlia, I see you made it," Ms. Valentine said with a smile.

"Yeah, I decided that I had a good enough day, that this detention won't make it all bad," Dahlia replied, while thinking about the race and Ms. Valentine.

"Is that so?" Ms. Valentine questioned. "If you don't mind me asking, why were you late this morning?"

"Well, my stepdad wouldn't let go of the fact that I came ou-I mean, tried out for the soccer team," Dahlia quickly corrected. Ms. Valentine looked at her as one eyebrow raised, but didn't question. As Ms. Valentine sat at her desk, Dahlia finally let out her breath. _'That was a close one,' _Dahlia thought. Dahlia then decided to lay her head down on her desk and wait for the for time to be up.

"Dahlia. Dahlia, wake up," Is the next thing she hears. Slowly opening her eyes and yawning, Dahlia realizes that she was still in detention. "Oh shit! I mean crap!" Dahlia shouts. She looks over to see that Ms. Valentine has a smirk on her lips and lowers her head in embarrassment.

"Looks like you fell asleep," Ms. Valentine said.

"Yeah, sorry about that,' Dahlia sheepishly replied.

"It's okay, as long as you don't do it again," Ms. Valentine said, quickly looking up at the clock on the wall. " Your times up by the way."

"Oh, okay thanks," Dahlia said as she reached for her backpack.

"Dahlia?" Ms. Valentine asked, as Dahlia reached the door. "Don't be late again, you hear me?"

"Yes, ma'am," Dahlia replied, turning back to the door to leave.

"Oh, and Dahlia, one more thing, don't call me ma'am, it make me feel old, call me Ms. Valentine," the dark haired beauty said.

"Okay," Dahlia replied, anxiously trying to escape the room.

"See you tomorrow Dahlia, looking forward to you not being late," Ms. Valentine said with a wink as she was walking over to her desk.

"Y-Yes ma'-I mean Ms. Valentine," Dahlia quickly said as she left the room with a blushed face. '_After all the events that happened today, I feel like something bigger is going to happen this year, and hopefully it's something good.'_


	2. KMart

**Disclaimer: Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate it! :) I forgot to say that sadly, I do not own any of the characters….but I do own this story, but then again not the characters. :( This story is different than some other stories I've read about with Resident Evil and I still want to continue this story so I hope you enjoy this next chapter! Now on with the story!**

Sigh. Only 30 more minutes and I'll be out of here. _'Ding'_. Wonder who that is. Turning around, I see Mrs. Swenter enter through the door. I send a smile her way, when she sent a gentle wave. Mrs. Swenter would have to be the sweetest woman I know. She's been coming here ever since she was born, so she says. Sometimes she'd come in and sneak some fresh baked chocolate chip cookies to me. She felt like a grandma, I never had. As she walked down towards the produce, I went back to reading my magazine. Who would have thought that Kim Kardashian would sign for a divorce? Rolling my eyes, I loop up to see the store almost empty. It was 10:00 on a Friday night and only the late night shoppers and creepers were out. Only 15 minutes to go. As I slowly turn to start checking to make sure the money in the cash register was stocked, I heard a dreadful sound. Well dreadful to me. Sighing once again, I go to the produce section to see grapefruits rolling all over the floor. I look over to see a young man wearing a sheepish smile. I inwardly groan as I realized I was going to be leaving a little later than I expected. Heading to the back room to retrieve some cleaning supplies, I saw out of the corner of my eye, a mop of black hair. As my breath hitches, I realize my stupidity. There's no way it's her, it's late at night and besides you're way too young, get a grip. After 5 minutes of trying to find the supplies, I head back out to the produce. Everywhere I seemed to look, there were grapefruits. Oh joy.

Picking up the first couple of fruits, my mind kept wondering off to the three women I met today. The first two women seemed to be a mystery to me, especially Alice. I wish I could meet them again, just to have two lovely ladies by my side. God, I sound like a perverted boy. Now, Ms. Valentine was another story. It seems like everywhere I go, I see her, but sadly I don't. My imagination gets to me sometimes and I see a woman with black hair, who turns around and is nowhere near as beautiful as Ms. Valentine. I know I shouldn't, but I have a teeny tiny crush on her. But I do have standards and one, sadly is that I can't get involved with a teacher. As if she'd like me back anyways. I'm only 18 and still in high school. Sigh. Better get this over with. The sooner I'm home, the better.

As I come across two more grapefruits, I see a pair of black heeled shoes enter my vision. Slowly looking up, my eyes wonder up long slender toned legs, reaching up to a black skirt and a black leather coat. I gulp as I reach her chest. I hear someone clearing their throat. I realize that I've been starring too long. "Um-uh...I'm sorry. I'll just continue cleaning," I say, while my face was covering with blush. I get up from where I was on the floor to look up and see the one person who I didn't want to witness what just happened. "Hi, Ms. Valentine," I say quietly as I start putting the grapefruits into the disposable bags.

"Hello Dahlia, I see you have your hands full," Ms. Valentine said, looking at my hands.

Why do I always have to embarrass myself in front of people I like? "Yeah, someone knocked them over and who's the one to clean up? Me. Wish I knew where that asshole went, I would've gave him a piece of my mind! I see Ms. Valentine cover her mouth to try to cover her laughing. Oh man. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, you did. I'm surprised I didn't see the young lad come back with his tail between his legs looking sorry," Ms. Valentine said, while still gently laughing.

"Well, if he knew what was good for him, he should be gone or I swear he shall face the wrath of my awesomeness." I smile with triumph, only for my smile to slowly fade. Did I really just say that? Awesomeness? For Christ's sake! She's your teacher and a gorgeous woman at that and you just made yourself sound like moron. Great.

"Ohh, I'm shaking in my boots," the dark beauty chuckled.

"Boots? What boots? All I see is some classy heels, making your le-um-uh your outfit look good!" Oh dear God. I need to stop talking before I embarrass myself any more than I already have. "It was nice seeing you Ms. Valentine, but I really have to clean up and go home," I say freely.

"Okay, well it was nice talking to you. I'll see tomorrow?" She says with a raised eyebrow.

Looking at her, I teasingly grin and reply, "We'll just have to see about that." As I saunter off towards the back room, I released my breath, which I didn't know I was holding. "God, I don't think I can take this any longer," I mutter. With one heave, I threw away the bag and walked back to the door. When I reached the door, I barely made it out of the way, when it suddenly swung open. "Whoa!" Somehow I'm still standing on my feet after the event. I see my co-worker, Jimmy, give me a teasing grin.

"Sorry about that, thought you finally bailed this shit store," he said winking.

"Yeah, you're just lucky to have just missed the cleanup in the produce section," I miserably replied. I swear, sometimes I think he comes in a little late to just get me irritated. Shaking my head, I tell him to have a good night with crazies.

"Hey, at least they're not some zombies coming to eat my brain," he chuckled. "Oh by the way, there was some fine, I mean fiiinnee lady asking for you to stop and talk to her before you leave. Let me tell ya, I would tap that." He said with a hungry look.

"Ew, come on Jimmy give the woman her privacy. For crying out loud, she's my teacher! Learns some manners and besides I don't think she would be interested in you." Finished with my little speech, I started to head back to the door. _'Like you have any manners. You know you were ogling her chest. _Shut up. Who are you? _'Why I'm you, idiot. Your conscience. _Right, I knew that.

"Hey! With my charming good looks, I could persuade her over to me. No one can resist the Jimmy Tron!" Jimmy excitedly replied, while starting to flex his muscles. Pssht. Men. Rolling my eyes, I say bye to Jimmy and exit the room. Now why would she want to talk to me again? Exiting the room I realize I didn't know where she would be. Deciding to walk up to the doors, I continue walking without looking up.

"Hey Dahlia," Jumping into the air, I quickly check my surroundings. My eyes quickly landing on the woman of my dreams. "Uh, hi again," I weakly replied. I realize that I was back in the produce section by the grapefruits.

"I was just wondering, if you had anymore grapefruits in the back, because it seems that they've all disappeared," Ms. Valentine said with a smirk.

"Ah, we probably do, I'll get Jimmy to help you." Taking a couple steps, I turn back around. "On second thought, I'll just get them for you myself," I say, while thinking of what Jimmy might do if he was around her. After couple of minutes, I finally chose two grapefruits that looked okay. Returning to the produce aisle, I see Ms. Valentine occupying her time with some other foods. "Here you go," I say handing the fruits over. Do they look okay?" I ask timidly.

"I don't know, what do you think?" Ms. Valentine asked, while holding them up to covering her upper chest.

"Uh, they're uh, they look good," I quickly replied, while blushing. Why does she have to ask such questions, while looking innocent? I don't know whether to believe that she's being innocent or just trying to get under my skin. Well let me tell ya, the second one is working awfully well, even if she doesn't know it. Shaking my head, I clear my throat and started to think on what I would say next. "Well, I better get going or I'll be late to school again," I say jokingly.

"You better, I expect to see you tomorrow again." With a smile and a wave, she left the aisle to go check out. My God, she's going to be the death of me. I think as, I finally leave the store and enter my car. With one last glance to the doors, I exit the parking lot, with the neon light of the K-Mart sign shining in my rear view mirror.

**Well that's the end of chapter 2! Hope you all liked it. :) K-Mart, I mean Dahlia ;P seems to have some .and Ms. Valentine(still sounds weird to me calling her that) likes to tease her. The next coming chapter will have some characters you'll know and hopeful the chapter or so after that, the crazy stuff starts to happen. Pleazzzz leave me lots and lots of reviews, I'm starving! Thank You! :)**


	3. The Club

**I appreciate all of the reviews! I just got back from thanksgiving in Florida and I am BURNT! :P On to the story. Kmart is still trying to figure out what is going on with her and Ms. Valentine. Here's the 3****rd**** chapter! I hope you like it as well as the others. I've been thinking on what to do next and I have decided that after the next chapter, chaos begins. When you're done just hit the lil letters in blue to review :) Thank You! I'll stop talking (typing XD) now and let you get to the story!**

So let me tell ya. This school year is going by pretty fast. My classes are going smoothly, well except language. But there's only one reason why. Yep, you guessed it. Her. The crème de le crème. Ms. Valentine.

Since the incident at K-Mart 4 months ago, I've tried to avoid her. You're probably trying to figure out how I can. Well, I can and can't at the same time. My strategy is to sit in the back of the room and try to not bring much attention to me by being quiet and busy. But sometimes that doesn't always work. She calls on me to answer a question or calls me up to her desk to go over an assignment I turned in. I know, you're wondering why I'm avoiding her.

Well, if you've forgotten, I had a teeny tiny crush on her. Hint here is HAD. Yeah, teeny tiny crush is no more; it's more like huge, ginormous crush now. Ever since the night at K-Mart, I started to see more of her. Not like seeing her everywhere I go, but seeing that she wasn't just a gorgeous woman, but she was a gorgeous woman with a great personality. She's nice, outgoing, and friendly, but can hold herself up high at times. Anyways, enough about Ms. Valentine, I think if I talk about her anymore my head will explode.

Right now I'm walking to Room 127. I still can't believe I'm going there. I sigh as I see the room getting closer, every step I take. Maybe I shouldn't do this; my stomach feels like it's on a rollercoaster. As I reach for the doorknob, I hear voices inside. They sound excited, happy and curious. Well, here goes, taking the leap of faith. Opening the door, I hear silence. Oh boy. My hands start to sweat as I see the whole room looking at me with curiosity. There was about 10 teens in a circle looking like they were just doing a debate over something. Man, if my stomach wasn't nervous before, it sure is now. Gulping, I finally speak. "Uh, hi." _Wow that was weak._ Shut up!

"Hey" My thoughts were interrupted by a redhead. She seems to be about 5'6, has mid length hair, and dark green eyes. "My name's Rachelle. She smiles to me, while holding out her hand.

"I'm Dahlia," slowly stretching out my arm to shake her hand.

"That's a cute name," Rachelle says, while letting go of my hand.

"T-Thanks." Someone actually thinks my name is cute? No way. My name is as cute as a pile of mud, if that's even possible.

"Are you here to join the GSA Club?" Shifting nervously, I think of what Rachelle just said.

Clearing my throat, I say," Yeah, one of my friends said I need to get involved, so here I am." I smile cheekily.

"Okay, well Dahlia, welcome to the GSA Club!" Rachelle exclaims, while looking giddy. "I'm the president of the club. Our Vice President is Sam." Looking to where Rachelle was pointing, I see a girl with olive colored skin, long raven hair, and probably the bluest eyes I have ever seen. There's no way she's single.

Yep, I was right, as Rachelle introduced the Secretary. Her name was Kate. Let me tell you, she was another looker. She had long strawberry blonde hair and green eyes that seemed to glow with excitement. Sam and her are holding hands. Hmmm. I feel like I should know them from somewhere. They remind me of a TV show. Ah, oh well.

"Nice to meet you guys," I reply. I see Sam give me a head nod and Kate gives me a "you too".

"Okay, since you've met the officers, before you walked in Dahlia, we were talking about our next event." Rachelle is looking at me with a smile. "We entered the PRIDE Parade, which is in two days. We're discussing on making posters, while some of us walk, and the others ride on the float. So what do you think? You still want to join?"

Do I want to join? Sure, why not. "Yeah, I'll join." I see Rachelle's face turn to joy.

"That's great!" Clapping her hands, Rachelle runs over to me giving me a hug.

Laughing, Kate tells me, "Sorry about her, she's just happy about getting new members."

"It's alright; I think I'll like it here." Smiling, I take a seat by Sam.

I'm starting to like this group. We've been talking and working on our project for about ten minutes now. So far, I have found out that Sam and Kate have been dating for a year and Rachelle was born with a webbed toe. Yeah, don't ask me how we got on that subject. The other teens seemed to be great too. Some even told me their coming out stories.

As I was starting to get use to my new friends and the club, the unthinkable happened. Okay, maybe unthinkable to me.

"Looks like we got a new member." That voice! I know that voice! Gulping, I turn around to see HER. "Ms. Valentine?" I question weakly.

"Yep, Ms. Valentine is our supervisor." Rachelle proudly stated. "How are you doing, Ms. Valentine?"

"I'm doing well. I just got back from looking at how our float was coming along. Jack's doing pretty well." Taking her eyes off of Rachelle, she set them on me. "Hello, Dahlia."

Gulp. "Hi, Ms. Valentine."

"I'm glad you've decided to join. We needed some extra help." She smiles, while her eyes on the other hand, seemed to be laughing at me.

"Yeah, well I was told that I should join a club and I saw this." Trying to cover up your identity? God, you're stupid.

Ms. Valentine raises her left eyebrow and smirks. "You'll be surprised at what we do. This club is nothing close to boring." Walking over to the door, she turns around. "I was just checking in to see how things were going and it seems that everything is under control. And Dahlia, I'll see you tomorrow in class?

Shooting her a small glare, I reply, "Yes, Ms. Valentine."

"Good." With a smug look, Ms. Valentine leaves. Turning around, I see all eyes staring at me. "What? She was just being friendly." Casting my eyes downward, I start working on the posters again. I barely her a reply, but it was clear as day to me. "Sure she was." Blush starts to cover my face. Today's going to be a long day. Sigh. Here we go again.

**Thanks again for reading! **Tell me if you think I should slow down on skipping days or months in my story, I just really want to get to the part where the chaos erupts. Next chapter, we'll meet to beautiful women whom we've already met! :)**You might have recognized a couple in there. I just had to mention . If you don't know who, I'll give you a hint. Warrior Princess and her Battling Bard in reincarnation mode. :D Anyways, let me know what you think about this chapter and on whether I should continue or not. Please READ and REVIEW! Thanks! :)**


	4. Ommpa Lumpas?

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1. Thanks for the reviews everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter. If I get the parade wrong, I'm sorry, I've never been to one before and I tried to use my imagination so I hope you like it! After you're done reading, please send me some reviews! :) Now on with the story!**

"Hey Dahlia! Grab those buckets!"

Grabbing two buckets, I say, "These?"

Kate looks up from gathering the leis. "Yep!"

Lifting the buckets, I walk over to Kate. "Here you go." Putting them down to the ground, I let Kate fill them up with the Hawaiian style leis.

Finishing filling up the buckets, Kate hands them to me. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." I walk over to our float where Sam was finishing putting streamers on. "Kate seems excited." I say, sitting down by Sam.

"Yeah, she's something else. She likes going out and showing off her happiness or pride to others." Smiling, Sam goes back to work.

"Dahlia! We start in ten minutes. Where are the other leis?" Looking over, I see Rachelle walking over quickly. "Come on girl! You're not even dressed up properly!"

"Wai-!" I get cut off by Rachelle pulling me off to the dressing rooms. Before I leave I send Sam a pleading look. Great. All I get is a laugh and a "sorry" in return. Sending Sam a glare, I let Rachelle pull me off to my doom.

**5 Minutes Later…..**

Oh God. I look like a Willy Wonka's Oompa Lumpa. Scratch that. _**We**_ look like Willy Wonka's Oompa Lumpas. Ha. That's what she gets. Looking over at Sam, I start laughing which earns me a glare.

"Oh Sam, don't let her get to you. You don't look bad at all. You're still gorgeous as ever." Giving Sam a hug, Kate looks over to me and playfully winks and shakes her head "no".

Laughing, I earn another glare from Sam. "Kate, I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but I can feel you shaking your head," Sam mutters.

"Aw, sorry sexy, but I have to agree with Dahlia on this one, you both look like little oompa lumpas." Giggling, Kate pats Sam on the back.

"Hey, speaking about outfits, where's yours?" Giving Kate a questioning look, I look over to Sam.

"Yeah, where is your outfit baby?" Sam asks, wrapping Kate in her arms.

"Well, you know, it's in, umm, at uh, home?" Looking at Sam, I get a message that Kate wasn't going to get away with this. Slowly creeping up to Kate, we get her to surrender. "Okay, I talked to Rachelle about if I could change my outfit and she agreed on letting me change, as long as it was still themed." Kate guiltily looked down.

"Kate, don't do that. You know we can't resist that look." Sam envelops Kate into her arms.

"I know, but now I feel like I should have told you guys about it, but I thought you all looked cute in them." Kate slowly lifted her head showing a sheepish smile.

"Well, I don't know where you got cute from, but i can defiantly see where someone can see us as little Santa's helpers." Looking down, I see high knee rainbow socks, a short sleeve red shirt, and rainbow colored suspenders connected to dark blue jean shorts. "Now this is a site for sore eyes." I spread my arms out to show my emphasis. Looking up, I see Sam give me a smile in agreement. Or so I think.

"I would agree if I had sore eyes. But I do agree with Kate, you guys look great in them." I turn around quickly to see Ms. Valentine standing behind me with a smirk.

"Hey Ms. Valentine." Blushing, I turn around to see Sam sending me a smirk. Sending a glare in return, I look back to Ms. Valentine, who was giving me another one of her eyebrow lifting looks. God, I love that look on her, especially when she has a smirk to go along with it. When I fully take in Ms. Valentine, I realized that she had on a purple suit, including a purple top hat and cane. Oh yeah, did I mention that we are supposed to be like Willy Wonka and his little helpers? Because I wasn't joking about looking like one, well except I don't have orange skin, thank God.

Putting her hands together, Ms. Valentine calls everyone over. "Okay everyone, the parade is going to start in less than five minutes. The float is already in line, ready to go. Now we just need my little helpers out there and doing their job. So let's go!" With a smile on her face, Ms. Valentine calls me over.

"Yes, Ms. Valentine?" I ask with curiosity.

"Let me fix that for you." I look down to where her hands reached over to fix one of my suspenders that was twisted. "There, that looks better. Come on let's catch up to the others." I can only shake my head, for I could not speak one word to her when she was that close.

Wow. Now let me tell you, when I thought that the parade in my old town in Kentucky was big, this parade took me by surprise. It was huge! There were people from everywhere. People of all ages were there too. When I thought our outfits were crazy, there were others that defiantly out did ours. Our float was centered in between the front of the parade and the middle. Sam and I end up having to walk the grounds and handing out leis to the crowd, while Kate and Ms. Valentine are on the float waving and throwing out candy.

Yeah, don't ask how Kate got to be on the float, because I have no idea. She probably sweet talked Ms. Valentine in letting her get on. Wish I could have the courage to do that. I'm just too chicken shit to do it.

I must be too focused in my thoughts because I get hit by a wadded up piece of trash. "Hey Kid!" That voice sounds familiar. Looking quickly over, I see them. "Alice! Claire!" I know. I'm surprised I remember their names too, but who can blame me. I mean, look at them! Alice was wearing a long dark brown trench coat with a white shirt underneath, and black jeans with killer looking boots. Claire seemed to be in a similar outfit as she was when I saw her at the stop light. She was wearing the same baseball cap as before and a blue Addidas hoody with light blue shorts on. As the parade seemed to stop because of traffic, I run over to them. "Hey you guys! You want some leis?" I ask them, while giving them puppy dog eyes.

"Okay, okay, we will, as long as you stop doing that." Alice takes one lei from my hand. "By the way, nice outfit." Alice smirks.

I groan and roll my eyes. "Stop it, I've heard it enough already. You join us and see how it feels." I glare at Alice, and then I hand a lei to Claire, who takes it without a second thought.

"Thanks _Dahlia_." Claire says, while putting emphasis on my name, looking at Alice.

"Oh, she can call me Kid, I don't really have a nickname, but she'll be the only one who can use it." Looking at Alice, we give each other a high five and laugh.

"Hmm. Okay well let me tell you now. If you get annoyed by the name, I warned you." Claire turns her head out to our float. "Hey Alice, doesn't that look like Jill?"

Alice quickly moves her head to where Claire was pointing. "Oh shit. Umm. Hey Kid, do you know her?"

For some reason I feel like I shouldn't reply but I do. "Yeah, she's the supervisor of my club. Why? Do you know Ms. Valentine?" I give Alice a questioning look.

Alice starts to fidget and seem a lot more alert. "Yeah, we just use to know each other, that's all.

Something's up. I just know it. Might as well press a little more. "How'd you guys meet?"

While looking at Alice for an answer, Claire jumps in. "Well, let's just say that one night, Alice and Jill ran into each other on the wrong side of the track."

"Okay." I'm confused. "It sounds like you're acting like Jill is a cop or bad guy or something." I see Alice stop fidgeting and her face become serious. I laugh. "God, I was just kidding. She's just my teacher." When I see no change in Alice's features, my smile starts to fade. "I mean, she isn't a cop or something, is she?" Okay, now I'm the one becoming nervous.

Laughter finally interrupts the silence. "No Dahlia, she's just pulling your leg." I turn when Claire gives me a pat on the back. "Right Alice?"

"Wha? Yeah, yeah." Alice lets out a small laugh and starts to walk over to me.

As I look over to our float, seeing it start to move, I see Ms. Valentine looking over at us. At least I think. "Looks like you have an admirer and a protective one at that." Alice says, while leaning closer to me, acting like our conversation we just had never happened.

"What makes you say that?" I gulp as she nears my neck, completely forgetting about the topic we were just on.

"Look out of the corner of your eye while I talk to you." As Alice says that, I look through my peripheral and see Ms. Valentine seem to stand at more of an alert.

"There's no way she'd like me. I'm just a teenager who's still in high school." I look up at Alice to see her shaking her head.

"No, trust me Kid. I know it when someone is interested in someone else." Alice puts her arm around Claire's shoulder.

"Yeah, Dahlia. She is right about that one. She can see it a mile away," Claire says with a smile.

"Baby, you were too easy, I knew that you wanted me before I even set eyes on you." As Alice laughs, Claire gives her a punch in the arm. "Ow! I was only kidding."

"Sure you were," Claire says, giving Alice one more punch to her arm.

Alice gives Claire a pout. "Give me a kiss and make it all better?"

"Aw, come here." Alice leans over and Claire gives her a slap against the head.

"Hey, not fair!" Alice continues to give her a pout.

"Oh, come on, don't do that." Claire sighs. "Come here." I watch Alice close the distance between them and give Claire a kiss on the lips. Feeling like I was intruding on something private, I focus on something else.

"Dahlia! Come on; get over here before we start moving again!" I look over to see Ms. Valentine waving me over. "Looks like I've got to go." Giving one last look over to Ms. Valentine, I give Alice and Claire a hug.

"Nice Kid, that just did it." Alice laughs, while looking at the float and let's go of me. "You need to hang in there, because you'll never know it might just happen. Remember time will tell." Giving me a push towards the float, I'm never able to say goodbye to them, because when I turn around they were already gone. Hmm. I wonder if she was right about Ms. Valentine. Looking up at our float, I see Ms. Valentine giving me a mixture of expressions. It seemed like it held jealousy, hurt, and maybe want? Nah. That last one is probably just my wishful thinking.

As I near the float, I see Ms. Valentine motion me over to join her. Getting close to jumping on, I see a hand reach out to give me a helping hand. "Thanks." Looking up, I see Ms. Valentine wearing a smile.

"No problem. If you don't mind, I was wondering if you wanted to stand on the float with me, or if you don't, you can join the others again." As she said this, her face looked like it was starting to turn to grim.

"I can stay up here. I don't mind, as long as I can have some of the leftover candy, I'll be okay." As Ms. Valentine laughs, it brings a smile to my face.

"Come on, the parade's starting again." As she says this, the most impossible happened. Okay, maybe not impossible, but still. She grabbed my hand and walked me over to front and handed me a bucket full of candy. "Now you just throw."

Suddenly my thoughts bring me back to the conversation that I had with Claire and Alice earlier. Something wasn't right when we talked about Ms. Valentine. Maybe I was just thinking too hard into it. Now the way that Ms. Valentine looked. Jealous. Could she be jealous? And what did Alice say? Jill, Alice said Jill. That's her name. That's Ms. Valentine's name. Jill. I smile as I realize that I just learned something new today. "Jill."

Ms. Valentine quickly turns her head towards me. "What'd you say?"

"Nothing, I said nothing." I give her a look like I was oblivious. Out of the corner of my eye I see, _Jill_ still looking at me with a confused look. Smiling, I think back to what Alice said before she left. Time will only tell.

**Hope you enjoyed it! :) Next chapter is where the chaos starts, so hope you keep reading to find out what's going to happen next. Please send me reviews, good or bad, I starving over here! Thanks and have an awesome and zombie free day! XD**


	5. TVirus

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I still do not own anyone in this story. Sigh.**

**Sorry it's been awhile since I updated. Hope you enjoy this chapter! :)**

Yeah, time will tell, that's for sure. After that day at the parade it seemed like Ji-Ms. Valentine and I got closer. Let me tell you, that lasted until a month later. When I wished for something good to happen, something happened alright, but not good. A month before prom, chaos broke loose at school. Apparently, some of our teachers were involved in a drug ring. Shocking, right? Anyways, you want to know who busted them? Ji-Ms. Valentine! Ms. Valentine busted them. Turns out she wasn't a teacher at all. She took Mr. Owens place, so she could listen in on the teachers. Mr. Owens turned out to be involved in the drug ring as well. Which brings me to, why didn't Alice tell me? When I found out about Jil-Ms. Valentine, the conversation I had at the parade with Alice made total sense. I mean, I can understand why she didn't tell me but still, she didn't need to say I had a chance.

The month before all that shit happened, seemed to be full of tension. Every time I would enter the room, Ms. Valentine would smile at me and be more talkative to me than the other students. In the beginning, I tried to avoid her again, but it didn't work just like last time around. That's where my awkwardness and nerves came in. Whenever I would try to talk to her I would say something stupid or I'd stutter. Other times I wouldn't know what to say to her when she would make a comment that sounded like an innuendo, but she always seemed to act like it was innocent. It drove me insane! And of course, when I found out Ji- Ms. Valentine was a cop, it just made it worse. I even regret the time I dropped in a conversation where Ms. Valentine was asking where I was, so she could say goodbye and I avoided her at every corner. I don't know why, but I felt like she hurt me. Like she could've told me and trusted me that I wouldn't tell a soul. I guess that's where my immature teenage image covers up my real true self.

Enough about my past, now it's just about the present. If you think my past was a disaster, you should see now. It's hell. I mean Earth is literally hell. You know those movies where they want to eat your brains? Yeah, that's real now. It's been a year since I graduated from high school. I was actually ready to go to college. But as always, nothing ever goes my way.

The undead seemed to have started a month after graduation. It was caused by the T-Virus. This virus just randomly appeared out of nowhere. But I still have suspicions that the company, Umbrella, was the cause of this whole disaster. Umbrella is a bioengineering pharmaceutical company who seems to work on consumer products, but I have a hunch that they have different branches where they work on deadly projects. These suspicions started when I saw a man come into Kmart one day talking on the phone and sort of eavesdropped. Okay, I really eavesdropped. The conversation I heard was very strange and descripted. Talk about science.

Back to the T-Virus, my whole family and friends are all gone at least that I know of, taken away from me by the disease that'll probably get me soon. Plus to add to my bad luck, I get stuck in Kmart. I was working the day our city got taken over.

For the first few days, I wasn't alone. I was stuck with Jimmy and some other customers. Let me tell you, they didn't survive for long. One night we were getting settled to try to sleep, which was hard, considering the undead was just outside. We already blocked all the doors with some of the store shelves. Jimmy and another man went back to the hunting section. They came back with a couple of hunting rifles and shells. Jimmy handed some rifles out to some others, including me. Me, with a gun, is a big no-no. I'd probably accidently shoot my own foot. But considering right now, I haven't yet.

Anyways, after putting the guns in arm's lengths away from us, we tried to sleep. Tired is the key word. Well, it was for me anyway. Jimmy was the only other one up. He was on guard that night. We had a system where we would all trade each night on guarding the doors. Well let me tell you. That night was where everything changed. When I finally thought I would get some sleep, I was awoken by screaming. I opened my eyes to see horror. I saw Jimmy yelling at me to get out. There was blood everywhere. It seemed like the undead broke through one of the glass windows. I saw two women already dead who seemed to try to escape, but didn't make it. They had bullet holes in their heads so they couldn't come back. As I just stood there looking in shock, I get grabbed by Jimmy and was pulled to the back room.

Before I know it, Jimmy handed me a gun and pushed me into the stock room, closed the door, and blocked it with everything he could find. I finally broke out of shock and realized that Jimmy was trying to save me and only me. The others already seemed to be dead. I screamed for Jimmy to get back into the room to only realize that he wasn't in the room with me for a reason. He had a bite mark on his upper right arm. When he told me to stay put and be quiet, he left with a final goodbye.

For a couple of minutes, all I heard was the moans from the undead, then an explosion. The door and floor seemed to shake from the impact. After everything quieted down, all I heard was silence. I peered through the window in the door to see destruction. There were undead scattered everywhere, if you could call them undead anymore. Their bodies were almost destroyed to nothing, as if they weren't already in bad shape.

I sat there waiting for something. For what? I don't know. Maybe just a little hope that Jimmy survived and I wouldn't be alone or maybe that I would wake up and realized I've just been dreaming and had been in a coma for a few months. But every time I would close my eyes and open them again, the destruction was still there.

After that first night alone, I decided that I was going to try and do the best that I can on surviving. I finally left the stock room and carefully made myself to the front of the store to find that I was still alone. I decided that I needed to block the broken window so no undead could come in. That whole day, I was running on adrenaline and exhaustion. After gathering all the supplies I needed, I went back to the stock room to end the night.

The first couple of nights were hard to go to sleep. Every little noise I heard kept me on my feet. I always had my gun beside me, so if I ran into trouble it would be in my reach. I stayed in Kmart for about a week, when I thought I was starting to go crazy and hallucinate. I woke up to the sound of yelling. His yelling wasn't any moaning or screaming from the undead, but from humans! Live humans! I quickly grabbed my gun and small pack of supplies and hurried out to the main area of the store to where I was having second thoughts on running back to the stock room. Right there in front of me was a hug pack of undead coming towards the front door. But as I looked closer, it seemed that the undead was starting to decrease. That's when I heard the yelling again. I recognized what the humans were saying this time. "Eat that you sons of bitches!" and "Go to hell!" I realized that each phrase came from two different voices.

"LJ, get yourself ready to go inside!" A man's voice yelled.

"Got it, oh captain, my captain!" Another man's voice replied with a chuckle.

"Aw, shut up." The next thing I knew I was on the ground and covered in dust. The bastards blew up the front doors! Now how the hell am I going to be safe? After the dust clouds settled, I see two figures come into view. Which brings me back to the now present.

"Damn, looky there, we have a live one." A dark skinned man said while walking closer to me.

"Shut up, LJ. Who knows how long she's been here. We can take her back to camp and see what Red thinks of her," the other man said while rubbing his scruffy chin and smiling at me.

"You know I can hear you guys, right? I'm not dumb." I give a scowl and hold my ground, well technically the ground was still holding me.

"Sorry about that, we just weren't expecting someone here. My names Carlos by the way," Carlos says while holding out his hand. I look at his hand with uncertainty and for some reason, I take his hand to shake and say, "K-Mart."

"K-Mart? Some reason I don't believe that's your real name," Carlos said while giving me a smile and a quick wink. "How long have you been here?" He looks at me with some sympathy and concern.

"About two weeks or so." I send him a small smile that doesn't reach my eyes. My smiles haven't reached my eyes ever since the outbreak.

"Well I tell you what. Come with us and we can take you back to the convoy. You can meet some other people and get something to eat." Carlos gives me a gentle smile and holds out his hand for me to take.

"Sure, I guess it's time to get out of this hell hole and being alone." I grab his outstretched hand and then follow them outside. In the distance, I could see the undead slowly making progress to the store.

"We better get going before we're lunch meat," LJ says while climbing into a 2011 Black Ford F-150 Pickup. I grimace at his comment when my stomach turns. I see Carlos motion me to get in. I hop into the pickup and watch the undead still coming towards us getting closer, but they quickly disappear from my view as we fly through the streets. I don't realize that I fell asleep until I opened my eyes to see we were on the outskirts of town. I see that we were slowing down to a building that held many memories for me and thought I would never see it again. Carlos drives between to gates that closed automatically behind us. Those must be new. As I pull my attention back to the front, I see the entrance to the building come into view. The truck finally came to a stop and I watch Carlos and LJ jump out of the truck. Carlos opens the door for me to get out.

"Thanks." I jump down to the ground and look around. "I thought I would never see this place again, or at least never be in there again."

"Well, look on the bright side, you're not going to school to learn, it's just for your protection for now." LJ laughs and pats me on the back.

"Come on K-Mart, I'll introduce you to Red." Carlos goes to the door and lets me in.

"You mean the Grinch, more like it," LJ replies with a smirk.

"Ah, LJ you can't blame Red for being in a bitchy mood. I mean, if your love went on a mission without any back up, I honestly would be a wreck too." Carlos says with a frown.

"Yeah, I guess your right on that one," LJ says while he suddenly stopped walking, which made me walk into him.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I ask him, giving him scowl.

"Sorry, I might be the cause of that." I hear a female voice say behind LJ. That voice sounds familiar.

"Hey Red, seems like you beat us to ya." Carlos says and walks by me. "We've got a new recruiter by the way. Her names K-Mart." He motions me forward. I walk around LJ with my head down suddenly feeling shy. I hear a gasp in the silence and then a name I haven't heard since the outbreak happened.

"Dahlia?"

I quickly look up to see the woman from the parade, still wearing a worn out baseball cap with strands of red hair peaking out, tan cargo pants, and a black tank top.

"Claire?" After that, the floor became my bed and I gladly welcomed the darkness knowing I was safe from harm.

**Hoped you liked this chapter! You know what to do. Just leave a review as always and you'll get another chapter! :) This will be the last chapter of this year, so I wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAST and a HAPPY NEW YEAR! See you guys next year!**


	6. Recovery

**I am sooooo sorry I haven't updated in a lonnng while. I have just been sooo busy, during Christmas break I went to Cancun, then school started up again and received a lot of homework. Bleh. And I also have work on the side. Well, there's also where I was stuck. I was stuck and I kept digging my hole deeper and deeper to where I didn't know what to write, until the other day I checked my email and I had messages from other writers telling me to update soon and to not give up. I really appreciate you guys for your messages made me rethink about my story and I just started to write whatever came to my mind. So I hope you all enjoy this chapter and sorry if it sucks or maybe it might not suck. I'll stop talking and let you get to the story! :)**

**Enjoy! Oh and pleeeasssee don't forget to REVIEW! Thanks!**

"Is she going to be okay?" _Hello. I'm right here. I'm fine. _"Well, she just seems to be tired. I think finally getting into contact with other humans made her feel safe probably, especially seeing someone she knows. You." "Yeah, I'm surprised to actually see her, I just thought, I don't know, I thought everyone I knew was gone." Okay I feel bad for eavesdropping, but I have nothing else better to do. "You're lucky to have found someone else you know. She'll be waking up any time. I have to go back to the 'lab' and do some more research. Call me when she wakes up." I hear footsteps slowly fade farther away. "Thanks Betty." Then I hear a door close and a sigh from the other person beside me. Well, I guess I should stop faking I'm asleep. I slowly open my eyes, to have them immediately close again from the bright light. I moan softly to announce that I was waking up and open my eyes again to see a blurry figure. I see the figure come closer and I feel them grab my hand.

"Dahlia? Come on, wake up." The voice sounds soothing to my ears. Now I know that it wasn't a dream that I actually did see Claire. My eyes finally adjust to the light to see Claire sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at me with small smile. Clearing my throat, I try to talk, but no sound comes out. I see Claire walk over to a small end table and return with a glass of water. "Here, drink this." Claire gently puts the glass to my lips and the clear cold liquid shoots down my throat feeling like I swallowed an ice cube whole.

Coughing, I finally get a word out. "T-Thanks."

Patting my back to soothe the pain, Claire places the glass back on to the end table. "Feel better?"

I give her a big smile, an actual smile since the outbreak. "Yeah, it just felt like my throat was full of sand, that's all."

"Well, I'm glad you feel better." Smiling back, she gets up from the bed and holds her hand out to me to take. I give her a questioning look. "Are you going to eat or just lay here all day?" Claire gives me her trademark smirk and grabs my hand and halls me up.

I let out a small gasp. "Jesus! You'd think you would be made out of only muscles. Are you sure you're not superwoman?" I ask, giving her my best Sherlock Holmes look of suspicion.

"Aw, you caught me. You have to be quiet, because no one else knows." As Claire looks around secretively, I laugh.

"Don't worry, I'll keep my mouth shut."

"Good. Now let's go down to the cafeteria and get some food. I'll also introduce you to some others, so you're not a loner." Claire chuckles and walks to the door.

"Funny. I know you, so apparently you're speaking to the loner. And knowing the loner means that you're a loser." As I walk by Claire who was holding the door open, I give her a playful shove and bolt down the hall.

"Dahlia! You chicken! You better come back here!" Laughing, I keep running until I hit a dead end. Great. A minute later, I look up to see Claire smirking at me. "I told you to come back. That way's a dead end." Turning around, she walks the opposite direction. I just stand there watching her get farther away. Claire stops and yells back. "Well, are you coming or not? I'm going to leave you so the food doesn't get cold." I shake my head and run to catch up with her.

As I catch up, I say, "No way are you going to eat without me." My stomach seems to agree and it makes a growl. Claire laughs and shortly stops by two doors where I assumed the cafeteria was.

"After you," she says while she holds the door open.

"Thanks." As I walk in, my nose picks up the most delicious aromas I've ever smelt, well ever since the virus occurred. The cafeteria seems to have stayed the same since I graduated high school. The room was full of tables and chairs that were occupied by a lot of people. Someone taps my shoulder, and I see Claire point her finger to the line for food.

"Claire! It's about time you showed up. We're about to run out of the good stuff." I look up at a man who seemed to be in his twenties. He wore a brown beret and had on a brown vest over a teal t-shirt. I seem to catch his eye and he gives me a friendly smile. "Now, who's this?"

"Otto, this is Dahlia. Dahlia, this here loose screw is Otto. He's one of the best cooks we have, so don't kill him."

Otto laughs, and tips his hat to me. "Nice to meet you Dahlia."

I smile. "Same to you." I pick up a bowl of what looks like baked beans and start to follow Claire, when Otto stops me.

"Whoa! Here, don't eat that. I have something better." He takes the bowl from my hands and disappears into a back room to reappear with a bowl that seemed to be full of chili. "Here, this ought to be way better than that shit. Just don't tell anybody that I have that back there. It's my secret stash. A man can only survive with the best foods." Otto sends me a wink and goes back to serving food.

I grab my bowl and look to see Claire talking to one of the men who rescued me, Carlos. Saying bye to Otto, I walk slowly over to Claire while looking at all of the other survivors, who also seemed to be interested in me.

Looking down one of the rows of tables, my heart stops. On the second table, I see a woman with short black hair. I realize that I was walking over to her when I hear my name being called. Looking back, I see Claire give me a questioning look and wave me over. I turn my head back to the woman to see blue eyes staring back at me. I release my breath, I didn't know I was holding, sadly lower my head, and slowly start walking over to the table where it seemed like all the leaders of the convoy sat.

"Heya K-Mart, same one catch your eye, because I can see where I can agree with you on that. Ow! Why'd you do that for?" LJ looks at Betty after receiving a good punch to the arm.

"Sorry about him. He just can't think like a normal person. How are you feeling by the way?" Betty asks me with a sincere smile.

"I feel way better than I did before." I avoid answering LJ about the comment from earlier and look beside me to see Claire give me a knowing look.

"Yeah, you seemed to be sleeping like a log when I came to check in on you." Claire laughs and squeezes my arm in reassurance.

I blush and decide to start eating my chili and listen to the conversations around me. I remember when I use to sit in the exact same spot, a couple chairs over when I was in school. After joining GSA, I became really close with some of the members. Sam, Kate, and Rachelle were probably the closest friends I ever had. After graduation, we all lost contact. Well, I believe that I was the reason why. I didn't keep in touch with them while it seemed that Kate left me messages on my phone to get back with her. I feel something crawl down my cheek. I reach up and feel that it was wet. I was crying. Crying. I haven't cried since the first night I was alone in Kmart, after that I built a barrier. I realized that to be strong, I couldn't make myself weak by crying.

"Hey, you okay?" I look over to Claire and see her face full of concern.

"Y-Yes." A beat. "No." It was like as I said 'no', my barrier broke and I was crying. I feel arms wrap around me, tightening their hold.

"Hey, it'll be okay," Claire says while trying to calm me down.

Hearing those words makes me break down even more. "No, no it won't. Nothing will be okay. I just wanted my life to be normal. Being in this building brings back memories that I wish I could've redone. I have one wish that I could've been with my family to say 'I love you' one last time, when the outbreak happened and not be at work. I also have so many regrets and the top two kill me. I regret not staying in contact with my two best friends, Sam and Kate. And my number one regret is that I should've never avoided her like she was the plague, she was just a cop!" By now my face probably looked like a disaster. "I regret not running to her when she was walking to her car to leave the parking lot and talking to her. I miss her. I miss _them_.I honestly don't know how longer I would've survived at the store. You don't know how many times I thought about letting myself go and walk out into the crowd of undead. And you know the one good thing that has happened so far? You, Claire. You have made me actually smile, a _real_ smile. And I am so glad to see you, so please, please don't leave me too." God…..I feel like I just poured my heart out. I finally get my senses all back to feel Claire brushing the tears away from my face and her tight hold on me. I also realize my surroundings were quiet. Oh God. I blush. I just had a breakdown in front of everybody. All of a sudden, I see Carlos act like nothing happened and tells everyone to start pack up and head to their rooms for tonight. Thank you, Carlos. I let out a big sigh and lean my head against Claire's shoulder and close my eyes.

I feel Claire start to rub my back. "Better?"

"Better." Opening my eyes, I lift my head off her shoulder.

"Dahlia, I know something that'll make you feel better. Come on, I'll show you." Getting up, Claire holds out her hand and I latch on. Claire says goodbye to the others and we head back to the hallway, where we end up going to another corridor that seems quieter. We reach a door and Claire opens it to reveal two beds, a night stand, and a lamp. "This is where Alice and I sleep, but since Alice isn't here, you're sharing a room with me."

"Alice? Where is Alice?" I look at Claire for an answer.

"She's on a mission. Let's not talk about that now. I'll tell you later, but first let me show you something." Claire leads me out of the room, closing the door behind us. We walk a little further down the hallway, when I hear someone talking, like as if they were reading, no, telling a story. As we get closer, I hear a group of laughter and someone say to 'not stop'. I look up at Claire, to see her smiling and she reaches over to the doorknob and opens the door. My heart seems to beat faster every time the door is opened even further, waiting for what was behind the door.

**Whew! Finally, done with this chapter. It felt like I spent forever writing . I didn't know where this was really going, so like I said, I hope you liked it! :) I don't really know when the next chapter will be up, so please bear with me and hang on. And as always leave me reviews; they make me feel good that I have readers and followers! :D Until next time!**


	7. Name

**I'M BACK! I know, I know, I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while, but things have been very hectic around here. So many things to do and I think I've finally slowed down, but also during those crazy times, I have learned a lot. I mean a lot of new information and found out that one of my buddies came out of the closet as well, well to me anyways and a few others and we are now heading to a parade this coming weekend to show our pride! So I'll report back to you on how that goes, very first time going there too, so wish me to have fun! Now on with the story. **

The door finally opens to reveal a small room that seemed to be another sleeping quarter. The room looks to about the same as Claire's room. The only difference is, instead of the floor being clear there was a group of kids. They were all in a circle, looking up in wonder at the girl who seemed to be animating what she said. The shouting and laughter stopped after I heard the door close behind me. One of the boys saw us and told the young woman that they had company. As the woman turned around, I thought my heart was going to stop. For there, right in front of me, was someone I thought I'd never see again. What is it? Is it 'make my day' day today? Because if it is, I am all for it. Before I can say anything, I lose my breath from the impact of a body hugging me.

"Is it you? Is it really you?" I look down a little to see only a head full of hair.

Letting me go, she looks up into my eyes and I see that her own seemed to have a glossy tint. That's when she started to cry and she wasn't the only one. As soon as she did, I lost it too. The room seemed to be quiet except for our crying until the door opened again.

"Hey Kate, I just got word that-." Kate and I stop crying to look up and see Sam standing in the doorway, her eyes full of shock. "D-Dahlia?"

I was once again out of breath when I had another body join the hug. As we cry, well Kate and I, Sam seemed to be holding us for support, I hear the kids leave the room. After what seemed like five minutes, we let go of each other.

Catching me breath, I finally speak. "You guys are really here, right? I mean you're not some kind of illusion, are you?" I cast my eyes to Kate then to Sam. Before I knew it, I was crying and hugging them again. I don't think I've ever cried this much. As I calm down a little, the questions started.

"Where were you?" Kate asks.

At the same time I ask, "How'd you get here?" We both laugh and look over to discover that we had forgotten that we weren't alone.

Looking at our embarrassed faces, Claire decides to break the silence. "Well, how about this. You guys come down to our room later tonight around 8 o'clock and we can all have a 20 questions party. How does that sound?" Claire asks, while glancing at her watch.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Kate and I have to go eat dinner still, so we could meet up afterwards. Dahlia, want to join us?" Sam questions me, giving me a small smile.

"Actually, I already ate. Claire here filled up my stomach or in her words a bottomless pit." I reply, patting my stomach. "I'll just meet you guys back in our room and we can catch up on what we all missed," I say and head for the door towards Claire.

"Okay, we'll see you later," Sam responds. And as I walk through the door I hear Kate faintly say, "I'm glad you made it back safely." I turn my head slightly to see Sam hug Kate and whisper something in her ear. I look back to the hall to see Claire looking back at me, using her eyes to follow her.

Following Claire seems to have become a challenge, let me tell you. I'm already out of breath and she's like a vampire or something because she looks like she's not even breathing. And only one word comes to my mind. Pathetic. I am pathetic, in the physical form. I should just see if I can find any super athletic bars or something, cause if zombies exist, can't super athletic bars exist? Agh, maybe it's my mind that's gone pathetic, who knows? Anyway, Claire stops at a door that includes a keypad. She types in a code and walks through. Looking with curiosity, I run to catch up.

As I enter, I can already tell that the area is the control room. I look over to see Claire walking towards a man, who seemed to be monitoring the security system. I continue to investigate, to only find more buttons that leave me full of curiosity and wonder. I walk over to Claire and realize the man seated was actually Carlos. I make eye contact with him and he gives me a charming smile. If he only knew that he didn't have a chance. Thinking of this, I feel a sharp pain in my chest. Apparently I also showed a pained look because Claire seems to notice.

"Hey, you alright?" Claire asks, with a concerned look.

With a slight smile, I answer, "Yeah, yeah. I just thought of something that's all."

Claire gives me a knowing look, while putting her hand on my shoulder and replies, "If you ever need to talk, I'm here for you, and don't worry. If anyone can survive it'd be her. Trust me, if she can beat Alice in combat, she'll be alright." The last part seemed to be more of a quiet mumble to herself, but I could still hear it. Claire looks at me looking for a sign that I was alright. I nod my head and look over to the security cameras.

"Alright, how's everything holding up, Carlos?" Claire asks walking over to him, but not before squeezing my shoulder.

"Well, by the look of things, everything seems to be working just fine, but earlier today, we seemed to have a problem with sector 4 on the west side. That was fixed after we sent some folks to repair the exit." As Carlos kept talking, his face seemed to grow more worried. Then he said it. "I don't know what's going on Claire, but some weird things have been happening more outside the gates and I have a feeling that we will need to start packing up soon, just in case, we're prepared."

Claire slowly nods her head as she seems to be going over the new information she just found out. "Okay, make an announcement over the intercom in about 10 minutes and just make sure the message doesn't cause a lot of panic. We don't need any more chaos, as we already have some." Carlos gives Claire a salute and waves bye to me as we head back out the door.

"So, now what's happening?" I question Claire, looking her right in the eye.

Sighing, Claire stops walking and says, "I'm sorry to say this, but I think we'll have to change plans for tonight. I have to go run some messages over to some other members of the team to give them a heads up and check up on everybody. You can go find Kate and Sam and see if you can have you talk now because I have a feeling everything's going to be crazy after we announce our plans. So I hope to see you tonight around 9, so we can have a head start for tomorrow and maybe have our own little chat. What do you think about that?" Claire asks with a smile plastered on her face.

"That sounds great. I'll go find Kate and Sam and probably then head off to our room, so you probably won't have to worry about finding me after bedtime." I say with a laugh and a wink.

"Okay Dah—"I interrupt her. "Claire, um, I would actually like to talk to you about that. I was wondering, well if you could call me, call me something else?" I say, although it seems to come out as more of a question than a statement.

Claire looks surprised and replies, "Okay, I will as long as you tell me why. Okay?" She looks at me ready for an answer.

"Well, ever since the world has turned to hell and the last person I talked to was bitten and said my name for the last time, I kind of, I know this may sound silly, but I'd like to start over and by starting over, I'd like to start with a new name," I answer with a shrug and a quick glance to Claire.

Claire studies my face for a few seconds and develops a smile. "Okay then. I just have one more question before I have to leave."

My face beams full of curiosity. "What's that?"

"What should I call you?" Claire asks, smiling.

"Well Claire, let's see. There once was a time that I worked in a grocery store, full of some very amusing customers. So I think that you can call me K-Mart. Yeah, K-Mart, I like that." I answer with a smile across my face.

Claire laughs and pats me on the back. "Okay, K-Mart, I guess I have to go finish some business, I'll catch up with you later and have a talk about something before we go to bed. Okay?"

I look to Claire and give her a nod that I understood what she said. As for when Claire said that we would have a talk about something, she meant to have a talk about someone. And that someone is Jill. Jill Valentine.

**The end…for now. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I know it was short, but like I said earlier I have been sooooo busy, it's unreal. I just rarely have time for this anymore, but I promise that I will still make chapters, it will just be slooowwww progress. So enough with my talking and see that little blue button that says review? Yes, click on that and send me some. I'd really like that! Bye now! :D**


	8. Conversations

**I know...I know...don't say it!...I am sorry! Very sorry! I can't say how sorry I am for not updating! I know if I was reading this story I would be irritated that they didn't continue either, but I'm upset as myself right now too. So please read! I hope you enjoy!**

As soon as Claire left, I looked back to the computer monitors, which all seemed to cover every area of the compound. From where I stood, all I could see was small moving smudges trying to climb the wall. I walk closer to get a better look on the screen, when I hear someone give an acknowledgeable cough. Jumping around in surprise, my eyes land on a woman I've never met before. I do a quick survey of her profile. She seemed a little bit taller than me with long black hair and perfect caramel skin. Her eyes were a dark deep brown, almost black, which made my spine shiver and not in a good way. I quickly realized my profiling took longer than I thought because she was talking.

"What are you doing in here? No one's allowed in here except for guards and the captains," she seriously asked, while never taking her eyes off me.

Swallowing my nerves, I reply, "I was actually just about to leave, I came in here with Claire and..yeah.." I stand there awkwardly fidgeting, never landing my eyes on hers.

"Okay, well let's go. You're not really supposed to be in here, but I'll let it slide." She still looks at me with a hard expression, which eventually softens once I still don't move. She sighs. "Hey. Look, I'm sorry if I came off a little strong. I guess it's a habit. My names Rain by the way." She offers her hand to me for a shake. I look at the hand like it's a foreign object, but quickly take it when I see her start to drawl away.

Shaking it, I say, "I'm Kmart." As I say this, I see her face turn with confusion. "It's a long story." Shaking her head with an understanding, Rain lets go of my hand and starts walking over to the open door. "Come on. We really need to get going." I follow her steps to the door and enter the silent hallway, but doing so, made me have to squeeze through the door and Rain.

Squeezing through those two obstacles was a bad idea really. For as I was passing tightly through the space, I could feel the warmth falling off of the Latino and feel her breath hit my skin. That's when my nerves set in once again. Finally crossing the tight opening, I gain my breath I didn't know I lost. '_Get a grip Kmart_.' I hear Rain close the door behind us and I get the courage to meet her eyes. _'Geeze. Those eyes are still dark, like coals.' _"So I'm just going to head that away," I say as I point in some random direction, for I have no idea where I was going.

She lifts her eyebrow with a slight amusement clearly stating in her eyes. "Okay Kmart. It was nice to meet you. However, I wish it was under better circumstances considering the whole zombie takeover thing." I cringe a little at the thought of never having a normal life again. She gives me a half smile and waves, which she then proceeded to walk the opposite way from where I was going.

"Same here," I reply back, seeing that she was leaving. I turn around to head off to find Sam and Kate, when Rain calls back, "Hey! Would you like to perhaps, talk sometime?"

Turning my head slightly, I say yes and she smiles in return. Once I start off towards my destination again, I sigh, noticing that everyone I run into wants to talk. Now a day, that's the only way it seems like you can survive and not go crazy. I make my way down the empty hallway, starting to think I took the wrong turn to discover I didn't. Smiling, I hear the voices speaking softly through the door. I knock, to let them know my presence. I hear a soft 'come in' and I grab the knob to notice my hands became sweaty sometime between knocking and entering.

Walking in, I see Kate sitting back into Sam, while Sam's arms encircle Kate around her waist. However, that changes when once again; Kate leaps out from Sam and captures me in another bear hug. "Kate! I can't breathe!" I gasp out.

"Sorry! I just can't help it!" She releases me and gives me a big smile. "I still can't believe it's you! I mean, it's just so hard to believe, since, well, since everything that's happened." As she's saying this, her smile slightly drops.

"Well here I am and I'm not going anywhere. I guess you are stuck with me." I smirk with a wink. Sam merely rolls her eyes in a playful manner. "Oh come on Sam. You know you missed this other blonde. Having two blondes together makes the scenario even better." I laugh as Kate lands a soft punch to my arm.

"Now I remember why I wanted to dye my hair." Kate mumbles giving me a small playful glare.

Sam hearing this, quickly steps in, "No! You can't! I love you the way you are."

Kate simply smiles and gives a quick peck to Sam's cheek. "So Kmart, about earlier, let's get down to business." She says lending me her hand to take.

Grabbing her hand, she guides me to the bed and we all three sit across from one another. "Actually, I needed to tell you guys that this talk will need to be a little short. Claire is going to speak over the interc-"Suddenly, I hear static interrupting my talking, then a voice coming from the ceiling. "Attention, all convoy members. This is Claire, your team leader. I would like to announce that we will need to start packing up all of our belongings. Grab whatever you need to survive. Remember. Only grab what you really need. Around 9 o'clock, lights shall be out. Get ready for tomorrow, for it's out on the road we go. Be prepared to leave as soon as possible. Enjoy your last night here. Thank you, that is all."

Once the intercom was turned off, I continued speaking. "Um, well there you go. Speak of the devil and there she is." Laughing, we all settle down and start talking between one another, like we never even left each other's sides.

I tell them about how I was trapped in Kmart and how the crew found me. Kate would give me looks of sympathy every now and then. I learned that Sam and Kate were actually together when the outbreak started. They were actually in a convenience store to get some snacks for a road trip, when a customer seemed to be acting a little out of the norm. It was too late for them to do anything, when the man just all of sudden, jumped the cashier, immediately biting into his neck. Sam quickly grabbed Kate and ran out the door to her vehicle. Ever since, they were driving around with a small supply of snacks and the clothes they packed for the trip. They eventually ran into the Claire's convoy, when they needed to finally stop to look for some food. Claire immediately took them in and they've been part of the crew since.

After talking for what seemed like hours, I realized it was almost 9 o'clock. "Well, looks like it's about time for lights out. I'm going to have to head to the room. Claire will be expecting me and knowing her, she'll want some time to talk." As I get up from the bed, Kate and Sam follow suit and give me one tight hug before letting go.

"We'll see you in the morning, bright and early!" Kate exclaims with a smile. Giving a small smile in return, I head out the door, walking towards another conversation that was bound to happen. Reaching the room I was going to share with Claire, I see that the door was already open. Walking in, I give a light knock on the door to let Claire know someone was here. Looking up from her bag of supplies, which was in fact, just a small duffle bag, Claire pats the bed for me to come join her.

"Hey. How was your talk? I assume you were with Kate and Sam?" Claire asks, while packing up her small amount of clothes.

"Yeah, we caught up with one another and had our moments. I'm just really glad to know that they're alive." I respond, smiling the brightest I have, since days ago. I don't even realize that I start hugging Claire until I feel her arms surround me taking me in. I let out a content sigh and don't want to move an inch. It was like I found a little part of me here in this convoy.

After a few minutes, I feel Claire shift a little and hear her call my name. Looking up at her, I finally decide I can't run forever from the conversation. I explain to her the exact same scenario I did to Kate and Sam. She seemed to grasp every word I spoke.

Once I finished she didn't say a word, but instantly grabbed me and pulled me in for another comforting hug. "You have no idea how relieved and happy I was to see you when you walked through those doors this morning," Claire says while only holding on tighter to me.

"When I saw you, to be honest Claire, I thought I was seeing a ghost. And once it did register in my mind that it was you, I just let myself go. I knew I was safe, if I saw you." After that sentence, I realized that I was actually shedding a tear or two and so was Claire. We both just held each other, letting the minutes tick by. After, calming done, I finally ask Claire the question that's been scratching in the back of my mind all day. "Claire, where's Alice?" As I ask her, I see her grimace a little, but she gives me a small still.

"Alice, like I said earlier is on a mission. She's actually looking into Umbrella. Before you ask, yes, Umbrella is the same company you heard the man you heard talking about in Kmart. We found a lead that seems to maybe have a connection with a possible antidote." Hearing this I let out a soft gasp. Claire continues, "She's been gone for a while now, but she will be back, I will guarantee you that," She says this with determination in her eyes.

"Not to be negative, but how will she find us once we leave tomorrow?" I ask with a questioning glance.

She lets out a short laugh. "Trust me. Alice will find us. She's..she's different. And no you may not ask my how, for that is for Alice to tell you, not I. Now let's get settled for bed. We've got a big day ahead of us. You can borrow some a set of my clothes to sleep in, until we can find you something else to wear." Claire pulled out a plain white tee and some red boxers and handed them to me. "Here, these should work."

She then turns around to give me some privacy and I mentally thank her. Once I clothe myself, I immediately jump into the full sized bed, making it my home. Glancing over, I see Claire with a small smirk. I blush and roll over on my side thinking about what my day has come to. I feel Claire shift in under the blankets and sigh. Next thing I see is darkness, when Claire reached over to turn off the light.

All I hear is silence and see only the dark and it's actually quite soothing. Not having to see and hear anything strange in this moment made it feel normal….almost.

Closing my eyes, I hear Claire quietly say goodnight. A smile grows slowly on my face and I return with a similar reply as I let the night let me wonder off into slumber-land.

**Yeah, no Jill yet, but we will get there...Eventually. Review please! I'll continue whenever I can. Please be patient! I also thank you for all your reviews, they keep me alive! **


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